List of 1968 swing states - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The 1968 U.S. Presidential election

United States presidential election, 1968

The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial United States presidential election. Coming four years after Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won in a historic landslide, it saw Johnson forced out of the race and Republican Richard Nixon elected...

is considered the most significant presidential election of the 20th century, and one of the most significant in American history. Growing unrest over President Johnson's

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

unsuccessful intervention in Vietnam

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

was among the factors prompting him not to seek reelection. The candidacy of popular former Attorney General

United States Attorney General

The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...

Robert Kennedy abruptly ended with his assassination

Assassination

To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

in June, and Vice President

Vice President of the United States

The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...

Hubert Humphrey's

Hubert Humphrey

Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...

ultimate winning of the Democratic nomination, despite not having participated in any primaries, angered many Americans. On the Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

side, Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

decided to give a presidential run a second try, having lost to John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

eight years earlier

United States presidential election, 1960

The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th American presidential election, held on November 8, 1960, for the term beginning January 20, 1961, and ending January 20, 1965. The incumbent president, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, was not eligible to run again. The Republican Party...

. Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

governor

Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

George Wallace

George Corley Wallace, Jr. was the 45th Governor of Alabama, serving four terms: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. "The most influential loser" in 20th-century U.S. politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter and Stephan Lesher, he ran for U.S...

, fed up with the Democratic Party's increasingly liberal policies, launched a third-party candidacy on the American Independent

American Independent Party

The American Independent Party is a right-wing political party of the United States that was established in 1967 by Bill and Eileen Shearer. In 1968, the American Independent Party nominated George C. Wallace as its presidential candidate and retired Air Force General Curtis E. LeMay as the vice...

ticket. The three-way race made for some very close results in many parts of the country. Below is a list of states with the lowest margins of victory (less than 5%), sorted by the margin percentages and color-coded for Nixon or Humphrey (Wallace's states were all won by margins of greater than 5%).

Pennsylvania- 3.57% 169,388 votes
Washington- 2.11% 27,527 votes
Maryland- 1.64% 20,315 votes
Texas- 1.27% 38,960 votes

Missouri- 1.13% 20,488 votes
New Jersey- 2.13% 61,261 votes
Ohio- 2.28% 90,428 votes
Alaska- 2.64% 2,189 votes
Illinois- 2.92% 134,960 votes
California- 3.08% 223,346 votes
Delaware- 3.51% 7,520 votes
Wisconsin- 3.62% 61,193 votes
Tennessee- 3.83% 47,800 votes †

† Wallace finished second in Tennessee, ahead of Humphrey. He also placed in second in South Carolina and North Carolina, though by larger margins.

See also